The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Jan. 17, edition that BMO analyst Tom MacKinnon rates Sun Life Financial ($52.51) "market perform." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. MacKinnon hiked his target by $2 to $56. Analysts on average target the shares at $54.14. Mr. MacKinnon says in a note: "While SLF's ROE has improved since 2013, the increase has been driven partly by a writedown on the U.S. Annuity Business, a number of accretive acquisitions, and large, arguably non-recurring, notable items. Given SLF's recent acquisitions and the current premium valuation relative to peers and historical multiples, we believe upside for SLF exists largely with better-than-expected earnings accretion from recent acquisitions, continued acceleration in the relatively smaller Asia operations and improvements in operating margins at MFS, rather than significant multiple expansion." On the sector, Mr. MacKinnon says, "If long-term interest rates, primarily the U.S. 10 year treasury yield, increases to 3 per cent, as BMO Economics forecasts to happen by mid-2018, we could see a further 18-per-cent multiple appreciation for MFC, 11 per cent for IAG, and 5 per cent for SLF."